Abstract
DNA methylation is an epigenetic phenomenon known to play an important role in the development and progression of human cancer. Enzyme responsible for this process is DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) that maintains an altered methylation pattern by copying it from parent to daughter DNA strands after replication. Aberrant methylation of the promoter regions of genes critical for normal cellular functions is potentially reversible. Therefore, inactivation of DNMT1 seems to be a valuable target for the development of cancer therapies. Currently, the most popular DNMT inhibitors (DNMTi) are cytidine analogues like 5-azacytidine, 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine (decitabine) and pyrimidin-2-one ribonucleoside (zebularine). In colorectal cancer, epigenetic modifications play an essential role at each step of carcinogenesis. Therefore, we have addressed the hypothesis that DNA methyltransferase inhibitors may potentiate inhibitory effects of classical chemotherapeutic agents, such as oxaliplatin and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), commonly used in colorectal cancer therapy. Here, our report shows that DNMTi can have positive interactions with standard chemotherapeutics in colorectal cancer treatment. Using pharmacological models for the drug-drug interaction analysis, we have revealed that the combination of decitabine with 5-FU or oxaliplatin shows the most attractive interaction (synergism), whereas the effect of zebularine in combinations with chemotherapeutics is moderate and may be depended on genetic/epigenetic background of a cell line or secondary drug used in combination. Our results suggest that DNMTi administered in combination with standard chemotherapeutics might improve the treatment of patients with colorectal cancers.
Highlights
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most common cancer in the non-smoking population worldwide
Zebularine tested at concentrations up to 100 mM slightly potentiated the inhibitory effects of either chemotherapeutics (Figure 1)
It is well established that the most extensively characterized epigenetic alteration in CRCs is gene promoter hypermethylation, which occurs in CpG islands that are often present at the 5’ region of approximately 60% of the genes
Summary
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most common cancer in the non-smoking population worldwide. It is estimated that over 600000 people die from it globally each year [1]. It means that colorectal cancer is a leading cause of cancer related deaths. The risk of CRC increases with age and is caused by genetic alterations involving oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, but is driven by epigenetic alterations involving changes in gene expression patterns, which are not dependent on changes in the DNA sequence. One of the epigenetic events is caused by DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs), which catalyze the covalent addition of the methyl group to the 59 position of cytosine in the CpG dinucleotide from the donor Sadenosylmethionine. Because epigenetic modifications are potentially reversible, they constitute an interesting therapeutic strategy with use of DNMT inhibitors (DNMTi)
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